810 Conservation news
together with the Red List training course. Prior completion of the latter, or at least familiarity with the Red List cate- gories and criteria, is encouraged before beginning the Green Status training course. Since its inception, more than 12,530 learners have enrolled in the Red List training course (C. Pollock, pers. comm., 2022). The new course covers all key information needed to
undertake a Green Status assessment. Future planned development includes modules onmapping and supporting information, and a final exam. After successfully passing the exam, learners will be awarded a certificate of achievement to prove they have completed the course and have a good understanding of the IUCN Green Status of Species and the assessment process. The course will soon be available in Spanish and French. We look forward to hearing from the experiences of
learners. Lyda Hill Philanthropies is gratefully acknowl- edged for supporting the development of the course.
MOLLY K. GRACE (
orcid.org/0000-0002-1978-615X,
mkgrace14@gmail.com) Department of Biology and Wadham College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. MICHAEL HOFFMANN (
orcid.org/0000-0003-4785-2254) and ELLIE ALEXANDER Zoological Society of London, London, UK. MICHELLE KOTULSKI and BOBBY DEIBLER The Nature Conservancy, Virginia, USA. H. REŞITAKÇAKAYA (
orcid.org/ 0000-0002-8679-5929) Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, New York, USA. ELIZABETH L. BENNETT Wildlife Conservation Society, New York City, USA. REBECCA YOUNG DurrellWildlife Conservation Trust, Trinity, Jersey, Channel Islands. BARNEY LONG (
orcid.org/0000-0002- 9747-6042) Re:wild, Austin, USA
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC BY 4.0.
The 30 × 30 target was also the central theme at the subse- quent African Protected Areas Congress in Rwanda during 18–24 July 2022, where we were panellists and speakers. Here we summarize the discussions regarding how
More is not enough: Central Africa and the proposed 30% protected and conserved areas by 2030
In December 2022, governments will decide on the new global biodiversity framework, which aims to conserve 30% of the world’s surface by 2030, the so-called 30 × 30 target (
cbd.int/article/draft-1-global-biodiversity-framework). The Congo Basin Forest Partnership convened in Gabon dur- ing 4–8 July 2022 and in its final communiqué invited the member countries of the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC) ‘To align the size of conservation areas with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) target of 30% conservation areas by 2030 by (i) increasing funding, (ii) improving management, (iii) identifying other effective conservation measures (OECM), and (iv) fo- cusing scarce resources on smaller areas to improve the management effectiveness of protected areas’ (pfbc-cbfp. org/meetings-news/
RDP19-Programme-fina-len.html).
Central African countries could achieve the 30 × 30 target by addressing the following four matters. (1) Several finan- cing mechanisms centred on forest carbon sequestration have started. Yet despite awareness of the importance of bio- diversity and the fight against climate change, funding re- mains cruelly short of the required 10-fold scaling up. (2) Public–private partnerships, in which governments delegate the management of protected areas to private partners, have shown increased management efficiency and finan- cing. Governments should actively prepare and oversee these partnerships, and private partners should make them- selves dispensable by improving the capacities of national management staff and actively involving local communities (Scholte, 2022, Oryx,
doi.org/10.1017/S0030605321000752). (3) Eight Central African countries have reached the 2020 CBD target of 17% of land surface conserved, and seven countries have .25% and three .40% of their land conserved (Doumenge et al., 2021, State of Protected Areas–2020,
observatoire-comifac.net/publications/edap/2020? lang=en). This includes trophy hunting zones that, unlike those in southern African countries, are not internationally recognized but could be considered OECMs because of their conservation importance. This is also true for certified forestry concessions with elaborate quality controls (Eba’a Atyi et al., 2021, State of the Forests–2021, observatoire-comi-
fac.net/publications/edf/2021?lang=en). Once certified hunt- ing and forest concessions are recognized as OECMs, 30% of Central Africa will be protected and conserved. The real challenge is, however, to effectively manage the vast trophy hunting and certified forestry concessions that are under pressures that jeopardize their economic viability. Congress participants also stressed that the opportunity should be taken to integrate local communities and Indigenous people in the equitable governance ofOECMs. (4)Where thesemea- sures are not feasible, a strategic retreat, concentrating scarce financial and human resources on smaller areas, should be pursued. Fromthesewell-protected nuclei, a viable conserva- tion network may ultimately be rebuilt (Scholte et al., 2022, Conservation Biology, 36,e13860). Addressing these four matters, Central Africa may seize
the 30 × 30 target not only to respond to international expectations, but above all to transform its protected and conserved areas to ensure they are effectively managed, equitably governed and provide the required economic benefits.
PAUL SCHOLTE (
orcid.org/0000-0003-3813-7363,
pault.scholte@
gmail.com) Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. CHOUAIBOU NCHOUTPOUEN and FLORENCE PALLA
Oryx, 2022, 56(6), 809–813 © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605322001090
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